Bonus Points: DVD Reviews
Take a Puff of This Political Satire
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; 12:00 AM
"Thank You for Smoking" (R; List price: $29.99)
Release Date: Oct. 3
If political satire is your movie genre of choice, then "Thank You for Smoking" must immediately rise to the top of your Netflix queue.
  Tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) shakes hands with a nicotine victim dubbed simply as Cancer Boy (Eric Haberman) in "Thank You for Smoking." (Dale Robinette - Fox Searchlight Pictures)
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Writer-director Jason Reitman takes Christopher Buckley's 1994 novel and deftly spins it into a smart and entertaining, yet not heavy-handed, look at the slick and borderline sick world of tobacco lobbyists. The impressive ensemble cast -- including Robert Duvall, Maria Bello, William H. Macy, Katie Holmes, J.K. Simmons and Aaron Eckhart in the starring role of cigarette spokesman Nick Naylor -- also deserves immense credit for making the dark comedy sing. Granted, few of the insights in this film will strike anyone as new. (Yes, it's true: Washington D.C. lobbyists sometimes do stretch the truth.) But "Thank You for Smoking" moves along briskly enough to make a perfect Friday night rental, especially for those weary Capitol Hill staffers who need a good laugh at the expense of the political maelstrom they often inhabit.
The DVD comes with a decent number of extras, including 13 deleted scenes with optional commentary by Reitman, a couple of featurettes, an interview from "The Charlie Rose Show" and a pair of commentary tracks. But few of them merit much attention. The featurettes are a particular disappointment; the making-of mini-doc spends most of its time lauding Eckhardt's admittedly fine performance, while the short piece called "America: Living in Spin," dully reminds us that everyone -- from George W. Bush to stars like Jennifer Aniston -- has become an expert at working the latest headlines to their advantage. Meanwhile, we only hear from Buckley during "The Charlie Rose" footage and get no glimpses of more revealing bits of behind-the-scenes footage.
To get right to the point: The movie "Thank You for Smoking" is worth seeing. But with the exception of the commentary tracks, most of the special features can be skipped. Don't believe the hype on the back of the DVD box, which promises a slate of terrific extras. That's just another example of good, old-fashioned spin.
Best Bonus Point: The pair of commentary tracks -- one recorded by Reitman solo and another with Reitman, Eckhardt and actor David Koechner, who plays a gun industry lobbyist in the film -- provide the best tidbits and most insight into the filmmaking process. The latter is surprisingly fun, despite the misgivings about audio commentaries that Reitman expresses at the beginning of the track: "You're forced to say interesting things; you're supposed to be funny and it's really a pain in the a--." Yet somehow they make it work, thanks largely to Koechner's inquisitive chattiness and Reitman's ability to serve up good nuggets, including continuity errors (spot the number of times Koechner's tie changes in the same scene) and easy-to-miss details. Take the ice cream Eckhart and Cameron Bright consume while riding a ferris wheel. Actually, Reitman tells us, that's mashed potatoes.
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